A Big Day For Cincinnati, Detroit, Nashville And Sacramento, Vying For 2 MLS Expansion Teams

Today is a big day for four cities vying for two MLS expansion teams. Cincinnati, Detroit, Nashville and Sacramento are scheduled to make formal presentations to the league’s Expansion Committee, meeting in New York.

The four “finalists” were selected from 12 formal submissions to MLS in January of this year. The two successful bids will take MLS’s "planned" roster to 26.

Los Angeles Football Club will enter the league in 2018 while a group led by David Beckham (an award has not been officially made) remains embroiled in a frustrating attempt to place a team in Miami.

A fellow Forbes contributor, Filip Bondy, offered some words of caution last month regarding the delicate balance between satisfying a demand for new teams while maintaining quality.

The Columbus Crew/Austin situation is also a significant loose end with Crew owner Anthony Precourt threatening to move the team to Austin, Texas.

Placating the Columbus community with the promise of a future expansion slot should Precourt follow-through has to be a factor in MLS’s strategy.

“We’re permitting the Crew to leave Columbus because —despite the best efforts of ownership — the market is not viable.”

As he’s rolled through each of the four cities as part of the expansion evaluation process MLS Commissioner Don Garber has been dropping crumbs of comfort and encouragement as any good politician would.

The conventional wisdom is that the provision of a suitable stadium is one of the keys to unlocking an expansion slot.

However, the likes of the successful New York City FC bid some years ago shows that other factors e.g. the credibility of the ownership group can trump that consideration.

December 14 has been set aside for a meeting of MLS owners and an announcement of the two winners

Here is a rundown of the runners, the stadium situation in each community and the hurdles that remain.

Originally, the Cincinnati bid was promising a $250M “investment” in the city. The expansion fee of $150M would have been part of the commitment with the remaining $100M as a matching amount (from undefined sources) to come from the municipal government. The resulting pool of $200M would build a soccer-specific stadium to house the MLS team.

However, the drawback was the lack of political will to financially partner in the stadium proposal. There was movement last week in bridging the gap with the stadium now becoming privately funded and with governments funding some of the ancillary costs. However, there remains a gap and gaps can also lead to deals falling apart.

The Cincinnati bid is hoping that the level of support enjoyed by United Soccer League team FC Cincinnati can influence the MLS Expansion Committee. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Detroit

Ownership group - Dan Gilbert – Owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Founder and Chairman of Quicken Loans, Inc., Tom Gores – Owner of the Detroit Pistons and Founder, Chairman and CEO of Platinum Equity

The original plan was to build a 23,000-seat soccer-specific stadium on a former jail site. However, the Ford Family persuaded the bid group to use the newly renovated Ford Field as the potential home for the team.

The inspiration seems to be the success of Atlanta United in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. However, it may not be an apples-to-apples comparison.

Ford Field is completely indoor while the stadium in Atlanta has a retractable roof and what’s more, it may be overly simplistic to think that success in one community can be automatically transferred to a very different market.

A general exterior view of Ford Field, Detroit (Photo by Mark Cunningham/Getty Images)

A financing plan for a $250M soccer stadium was approved early last month by the Nashville Metro Council.

The funding would consist of $225M in municipal bonds and a $25M contribution from the ownership group. In addition, the new team would be on the hook for 30 years with an annual payment of $9M that would help retire the debt incurred by the bonds and be responsible for any cost overruns.

Nashville is a finalist for an MLS expansion franchise, but it has come at a cost: The city is being sued to prevent a land giveaway (to be used for venue construction) that local residents say would effectively end the State Fair.https://t.co/uSkKwL0lFhpic.twitter.com/ogGXHipihQ

Ownership group - Kevin Nagle – Managing Partner of Sac Soccer & Entertainment Holdings and Minority Owner of the Sacramento Kings, Jed York – CEO of the San Francisco Forty-Niners, Mark Friedman – President of Fulcrum Property Group and Minority Owner of the Sacramento Kings, and other limited partners

The Sacramento City Council has already given the 20,000 $245 M downtown site the green light. The stadium plan calls for an occupancy date of 2020 although preparatory work has already commenced on the privately funded project.

Sacramento has checked all the boxes for @MLS expansion. On top of that the new privately built stadium is the lynchpin for development at the Railyards to bookend @Golden1Center and take us into the future! #BringItHome#BuiltForMLS

Overall, Nashville and Sacramento seem to have a decided edge on the other two bidders although the Columbus dilemma might offer the Cincinnati bid an unexpected bonus.

Meanwhile, many people are left wondering how Detroit managed to make the final four although expansion decisions don't always look rational to those on the outside looking in.

The two cities not invited to join the show will join the original eight unsuccessful bids — Charlotte, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Raleigh/Durham, St. Louis, San Antonio, San Diego and Tampa/St. Petersburg — in waiting for the next round, which will take the league to 28 teams.

*Some additional information was added to the Cincinnati section after the original posting.

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Soccer Analyst for Fox Soccer Report and Fox Soccer News 24/7 from 2001 to 2013. I have been a soccer writer and broadcaster for over 20 years and have followed the world's game for as long as I care to remember.